Commune? What the?
Yup. You read that right. This is a blog for the Idyllia West Commune.
Aren't communes evil? Don't people who live in communes worship the devil? Are you trying to destroy America?
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Is it evil to steal One Trillion Dollars from peoples retirement accounts? Is it evil to destroy hundreds of miles of coastline, destroy the fishing industry, tourist industry, shrimp and shellfish industry of an entire region just to save a few bucks on proper safety equipment? Is it evil for banks to take Billions of Dollars of taxpayer money then refuse to make loans to the very people who just saved their bacon? Is it evil to pay off politicians to get government contracts in a war for oil (hello, Haliburton, KBR, Blackwater). Is it evil to encourage a corrupt government to murder environmental activists to stop their interference in your exploitation of Nigerian oil resources? I could go on but you get the idea. There is evil in this once proud nation. It's name is Capitalism. Greed. Mammon.
They say money is the root of all evil. They also say that the devil corrupts a person's good soul, makes them do terrible things that they never would have done. Capitalists are responsible for so much of the evil of the world. All in the name of money, getting more of it than anyone else. If I didn't know better I'd say that money is the embodiment of the devil and since Capitalists worship money above all else... well, you know the answer to that question. It is this greed and callousness that are destroying our country. Over the past 30 years our cherished institutions have been systematically corrupted till they serve only the greed of the corporate masters; schools no longer teach facts and independent thought, they are indoctrination facilities for the next generation of wage slaves; the media fails to report anything that is embarrassing or damaging to their wealthy owners and the corporations they serve; governments serve the interests of big business and wealthy donors, never those of the people; and now the courts (all the way up to the Supreme Court) make their decisions based on what is best for the corporations, citizens be damned.
We're just ordinary people. What can we do?
First we have to lose the hopeless attitudes we may have come to over the course of our lives. We are in the majority. The wealthy only make up 1 or 2 percent of the population so when push comes to shove who do you think has the upper hand? We do and that's why the rich are worried that we might one day wake up and stop behaving like scared little sheep or worker bee drones.
In a bee hive the drones never get any of the benefits, they do all the work, provide all the goods and services, live only to work from the day they are born, and when they are no longer of use they are cast out of the hive to die alone. The queen bee gets all of the benefits, all other bees exist merely to service her, to provide her with food, companionship, entertainment, etc. Doesn't that sound familiar?
You have the power to walk out that door and never look back. Leave the fantasy and embrace reality -- and make it better than ever before. You were born free, you just don't know it yet!
So I pose a question to all the worker bees out there, the wage slaves: do you like this situation? Do you want to live by "their" rules - the ones that guarantee that the rich get all the benefits and you get barely any (or none). Do you want to live the way the corporate masters say? Or do you want to make your own life together with others who feel the same way as you do, lived by the rules of decency and equality for all.
Let's make a commune!
It's time for a change but since we live in a world controlled by evil we have to use their system to our benefit and not theirs. There is no free territory to move to so we have to buy enough land to make our own life. A life without corporations controlling everything we think and do. We need to pool our resources, the mammon that we've managed to squirrel away from the devil worshippers, and work together for our common purpose.
We need you.
None of us have enough to make a commune all by ourselves. But when we put all our money together the story changes. This is how we will discover that we can do something better with our lives, get out of the mental prison of Capitalism. We can buy land, build homes, buy solar panels and make a greenhouse to grow our food. We can use their rules to benefit us, use our skills to make goods and services to sell to the Capitalists.
We save money by pooling together, sharing expenses wherever possible, forming a coop to benefit us all.
Who among you has the courage to leave the corruption of the Capitalist Casino? Who has realized that when you play their game by their rules then they will ALWAYS win. The game is rigged. That we all know. Will you join us and escape the lies and the false promises and live the way you were intended.
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Your ideals seem high and wonderful.
ReplyDeleteMany have aspired to similar, though each develop broad expression of the ideal "commune".
I seriously considered something along these lines for so long, yearning for it.
But it seems it may never be found~that magical community/commune that actually works for a realistically wide variety of people.
I thought we'd found something at least close, in the rural area we'd struggled so hard to by 10 acres. Figured, maybe that area might support a bunch of small-holders, with similar ideals and goals. I put loads of energy into manifesting that!
As successive people bot acreage nearby, it SEEMED they were on similar wavelength.
We rejoiced and welcomed them!
Slowly, little farmletts bloomed, and small ag. businesses have been trying to grow. The creative ideas of each are simply wonderful!
Then one person moved back to area after decades absence, behaving strange, talking trash, manipulating, threatening, conniving.
Then a few more persons started having anger-management issues over things that made no sense, or were all or part imagined. There were a few thefts of unusual items, later seen on others property.
For the last several years, the pain, fear and anger have been so thick, one could cut it with a dull rock.
Those who blew overt anger at innocent others, spinning fictions about others, staunchly maintain they are the ones who have been harmed, and, refuse to do anything to remedy things.
Those harmed by the persons with anger management issues live in fear, hide/avoid, and have generally withdrawn from most community.
It's a literally heart-breaking situation, with no clear good way to repair it.
What does consensus community do with things like that?
What does your kind of community do about/with elderly, infirm, or developmentally different people?
What about disabled people?
If someone joins while healthy, then gets some sort of impairment preventing them regular participation in physical activities, or other shared activities, What then is their place in a Commune?
[Some communities keep them, since they are part of the community, others do their best to get them to leave, one way or another.]
Just wondered where you stand on the issue of everyone having some kind of value to add to community, no matter what, -Or-?
Is everything shared, or are some things kept personally owned?
Are there shared living arrangements?
Shared relationships?
How far does "communal" go?
Are there models for conflict resolution in that setting [a Commune is essentially a tiny town, where everyone shares various levels of assets, yes?]?
I really would like to hear more about your ideas and plans! Please help me understand!
Your comment highlights the very problem with a Capitalist society. The majority of people want to get along, want to be fair with everyone, want to do the right thing. But those who have the mental illness called Capitalism, or who have drunk the kool-aid of the liars and thieves will always behave in the most antisocial ways. I'm sorry that your experience was a Capitalist poison pill. Since you describe people "buying" land, starting farm businesses, stealing personal property it is clear that your experience was a direct result of the Capitalist ideals: Everyone out for themselves only, everyone trying to horde the most money, no moral code, no goal or guiding principles other than the accumulation of wealth.
ReplyDeleteIn short, I'm sorry that your experience with Capitalism has been exactly the same as the rest of us Americans.
In a consensus commune, decisions are made by everyone in the group. It is the closest to true Democracy of any system I've found. Where everyone agrees, a proposal goes forward. Where one or more persons object, a guided mediation is entered into.
Guided mediation requires the objecting party to attend two weeks of mediation meetings with 4 meetings each week. At least 3 non-objecting members will assist in the mediation. The issues will be discussed calmly and rationally and all persons will get to air their opinion about the proposal and the reasons for their objection or support. To preclude a "party of no" irresponsible obstinance, if the objector misses one of the required meeting their objection is summarily withdrawn as nuisance. At the end of the mediation period, if there is felt to be good reason to modify the original proposal then the changes are brought back to the group and discussion begins again. If, at the end of the mediation there is no agreement that the objections are well founded the mediators can reject the objection and the original proposal is deemed to have passed - but the objector then has the right to bring forth a proposal of their own for a vote with the full group.
Your other questions depend greatly on a consensus of all the founders. The founders hold meetings to draft the stated purpose of the community, its desired maximum size, goals and ideals, rights and responsibilities of the members, code of conduct, the balance between common/communal space and personal spaces, and so much more. There are no easy answers to any of your questions. So much depends on the size of the commune and its sources of income.
The Chinese village commune of Nanjie provides all residents with a free apartment that comes with electricity, TV, water, heat and air conditioning. The community provides 14 free staples or services such as education and health care all for free. They did this by building a brick factory and offering the first bricks to the workers to be used in building the community buildings and apartments. After that the bricks were sold to others outside the village commune and the profits are used to pay for all the free services and to save for a rainy day.
The Idyllia commune can have that as a goal, by using the particular strengths and different resources available so that will ultimately determine the best way forward. The common thread is that whatever the commune receives is used for the benefit of all members equally. That is the only way it will work.
The fatal flaw of Capitalism is that when each individual is putting all their energies to bettering themselves, no matter the harm to others or the community, then each person becomes a destructive force. Any community can survive with a small number of destructive people but with our modern society there are more destructive people than constructive. That is the root of nearly all of our current challenges and it is the pursuit of money over all else that will spell the doom of all Capitalist societies.